PM Modi condemns attack on Slovak PM, calls it “cowardly act”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condemned the shooting attack on Slovakia's PM Robert Fico, calling it a "cowardly and dastardly act".

PM Modi, while expressing his shock over the incident, wrote on X: “I strongly condemn this cowardly and dastardly act and wish PM Fico a speedy recovery. India stands in solidarity with the people of the Slovak Republic.”

The Slovakian Prime Minister, who was critically injured in an assassination attempt on Wednesday, is no longer in a life-threatening condition after surgery.

The 59-year-old was shot five times, and was transported to a hospital in Banska Bystrica, where he underwent surgery.

The attack has been classified as a politically motivated assassination attempt, according to Slovak Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok. Estok said that the assassination attempt was "politically motivated and the decision was born right after the presidential election". 

A 71-year-old suspect has been taken in custody. The incident comes just three weeks before the critical European Parliament elections.

Earlier, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, too, had condemned the “vile attack” on Fico. “I strongly condemn the vile attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico. Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good. My thoughts are with PM Fico and his family,” von der Leyen wrote in a post on X.